The post-August recess has not been a quiet time for education policy on Capitol Hill or in the states.  The reauthorization of ESEA is moving to conference, the U.S. Senate has announced its intention to reauthorize the Perkins CTE Act, two Federal student privacy bills are pending, and Michigan has been moving its own student privacy legislation. SIIA has not been sleeping through this season either.

Brendan Desetti, SIIA’s new Director of Education Policy, has been engaging with Congress, the Administration and state policymakers to ensure the industry’s voice is heard on all these issues.  Brendan has been with SIIA for more than a year and previously was the Association’s education policy and programs manager – providing critical summary and analysis of state, national and federal policies and programs impacting the education marketplace.

I’m delighted to have Brendan lead our policy efforts in education technology and student privacy. He has a firm grasp of Federal and state legislative dynamics and is a skilled public policy advocate. He’s shown himself to be smart, energetic, informed and tenacious in pursuing our members’ interests.

While his advocacy work at SIIA has only begun recently, Brendan has a background in Federal advocacy and education policy.  Prior to joining SIIA, Brendan was a legislative liaison with the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE).  At ACTE, he lobbied on a wide range of education and workforce issues, including ESEA, Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act, Higher Education Act and the Perkins CTE Act.

We are excited to have Brendan on our public policy team and know that he will do a great job representing the industry and this Association at all levels.

If you have questions about SIIA’s education policy work or would like to connect with Brendan about the work your company is doing for students and schools, please don’t hesitate to contact him at bdesetti@siia.net.

Mark MacCarthy, Senior Vice President, Public Policy at SIIA, directs SIIA’s public policy initiatives in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, information privacy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and the promotion of educational technology. Follow Mark on Twitter at @Mark_MacCarthy.